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The GOLA Culture, Art, and Ecology Association and Borçka Municipality are collaborating to develop cultural policies for Borçka and design a festival that reflects the unique qualities of the region. This collaboration aims to determine the priorities of Borçka Municipality in the field of cultural policies by identifying the needs of Borçka’s culture and art ecosystem through participatory methods. The collaboration also aims to organize a festival in which every step will be carried out through multi-partner cooperation, with the contribution of various non-governmental organizations. The festival, which will be centred around Borçka’s geographically indicated iron apple, is expected to bring together different actors in the region and foster diverse collaborations through the local fruit.
The project entitled “Half an Apple, Iron Apple: A Multi-Partner Festival Design”, which will be carried out with a democratic and participatory approach, aims to mediate the development of cultural policies specific to the region.
Borçka Municipality would like to expand its vision in the field of culture and art, using its experience in the cultural and art events it has organised, such as the Book Days and the Borçka Theatre Festival, and create a more comprehensive and participatory policy in this field. The Iron Apple Festival will be held with the multi-stakeholder festival design by GOLA Association, around the cultural and ecological heritage of the Iron Apple fruit, which has been geographically indicated by Borçka Municipality. The festival will bring together everyone who will contribute to the formation of participatory culture and arts policies in the Eastern Black Sea Region.
In this context, a series of meetings will be held to determine the needs of the culture and art ecosystem in Artvin and especially Borçka district, a culture and art policy writing workshop will be held and the working group to be formed will be supported to write a policy text.
In this regard, a series of meetings will be convened to ascertain the needs of the culture and art ecosystem in Artvin, particularly in the Borçka district. Subsequently, a culture and art policy writing workshop will be conducted, and support will be provided to the working group formed to draft a policy document.
The multi-partner festival design process, which will span one year, will be initiated at the Iron Apple School, where all stakeholders who will design the festival will come together during the first months of the project.
Iron Apple Festival is a multi-stakeholder festival planned to take place with joint design and implementation efforts of civil society and local government. Between 2006 and 2015, GOLA Association organized “Green Plateau Culture, Art and Environment Festival” and will transfer its experience in holding a festival into the Iron Apple Festival working together with the cultural and artistic actors in the Eastern Black Sea region. The festival, which will highlight Borçka’s cultural richness and local values and be enriched with the active participation of the local people, is planned to be held in the autumn of 2024, during the iron apple harvest.
Iron Apple Festival is a multi-stakeholder festival planned to be implemented with joint design and implementation efforts of civil society and local government. Between 2006 and 2015, GOLA Association organized “Green Plateau Culture, Art and Environment Festival” and will transfer its experience in holding a festival into the Iron Apple Festival working together with the cultural and artistic actors in the Eastern Black Sea region to create a local culture and arts policy with a broad consensus. The festival, which will highlight Borçka’s cultural richness and local values and be enriched with the active participation of the local people, is planned to be held in the autumn of 2024, during the iron apple harvest.
Every stage of the Iron Apple Festival, which will be part of a rich and comprehensive event series that will last 12 months, will be recorded so that a movie telling the original design and implementation story of the festival can be produced at the end of the project. This movie will document the development of the festival, its interaction with the local community and its impact, and will serve as a guiding recording for similar cultural events. Thus, this documentary will be more than just an activity for the festival; it will be an important resource for passing on cultural heritage, social participation and celebration of local values. Additionally, it will serve as an inspiring example for people and organizations that will develop similar projects in the future.
GOLA Culture, Art and Ecology Association was founded in Istanbul in 2006. The founding members of the association came together due to the to prevent discrimination in the Eastern Black Sea region, where civil society is weak and local cultures are associated with stereotypes, and Laz (A South Caucasian people) culture in particular.
GOLA’s main goal is to raise awareness through culture and arts, to record, archive and preserve the ancient life information of Laz language and Laz culture, the language of the thousands of years old autochthonous Laz people. The association aims to contribute to pervading a peaceful and democratic language in our country and the world, especially in the Eastern Black Sea region. In this regard, it focuses on developing a sustainable environment and human relationships through cultural and artistic activities and knowledge production-oriented studies in the Eastern Black Sea region. GOLA acts both as a bridge between the centre and the local, as well as a cultural and social hinge.
In the first decade of its establishment, GOLA collected local life information through the Green Plateau Culture, Art and Environment Festival, which was a mobile festival organized in different villages. GOLA works to ensure that peaceful awareness and the information collected at the centre reaches local communities through culture and art. https://www.golader.org/
Borçka Municipality aims to take an active role in the implementation of a multi-stakeholder and inclusive festival design that will be created in cooperation with civil society based on the experience gained at the Borçka Theater Festival organized in 2022 and 2023.
Goluri
Founded to support the sustainability of GOLA Association, Goluri designs culture and art oriented trips and events based on local and slow life principles, focusing on experience and awareness. Events held periodically such as “Apple School”, which emphasizes traditional life culture, climate awareness and relationship with nature stand out among various other events organized by Goluri. Goluri will transfer its experience in the field of cultural tourism to the design of the Iron Apple Festival.
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